


With Hands Full of Blackthorns

by Chrissss



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: (Riku isn't blood related but when has that ever mattered), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BBS AU, F/M, Gen, I am taking Vani's character from the BBS novels and no one can stop me, Jin is Best Husband, Kyouka will look at BBS canon and smash it with her keyblade, Mama Bear Kyouka aint gonna let no keyblade destiny ruin her son and nephew's lives, Player-Is-Sora's-Mom AU!, Profound Riku is Profound, Riku is practically an honorary son and Kyouka will not see his Light be stifled, all six of them!, and changes her name to Kyouka, because I can XD, hey hey Player was friends with all the Dandelion Leaders!, i have a player-is-reincarnated-as-sora AU, if you don't like Vanitas this uhhhhh might not be the fic for you, my key kid gets shunted to DI, now get ready for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26299489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrissss/pseuds/Chrissss
Summary: Kyouka thought she had escaped the bleak destiny of a Keyblade Wielder when she crash-landed on Destiny Islands all those years ago, but it somehow found her again in the form of a young man with no clue how to temper the Darkness in his Heart about to gift her nephew-in-all-but-blood a Keyblade.Oh hell no.
Relationships: Player Character & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Player Character & Strelitzia (Kingdom Hearts), Player Character & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Riku & Sora's Mother (Kingdom Hearts), Sora & Sora's Mother (Kingdom Hearts), Sora's Father/Sora's Mother (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 33





	With Hands Full of Blackthorns

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to NEW AU. New being a relative term as I've had this idea cooking in my brain for a good few months after it was posed to me by ThemusicalPsycho on my Discord server. The idea grabbed my brain and refused to let go, so now I have yet another thing to distract me from MD. This is for you Jamie!
> 
> Updates will be sporadic and infrequent because I am incapable of writing anything in a timely manner I am so sorry.
> 
> Betaed by the lovely [Writer of Fire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterOfFire/pseuds/WriterOfFire)! Thank you!

_Blackthorn: Fate, protection, hope against adversity, good fortune_

_~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~_

Kyouka sighed as she finished rolling out the dough for the pie she was making for Hana down the street as thanks for watching Sora the other day when both she and Jin had been busy. He had been grounded this past week and while he didn’t need a minder to make sure he stuck to his punishments (he was a good boy like that), she hadn’t wanted to leave him alone with nothing to do and no one to see, especially near the end of the grounding. Thank goodness Hana had been willing to be a playmate to her son. Truly, she did not deserve that woman as her friend.

“Is that Hana’s pie I smell?” Hands circled around her waist as her husband buried his face in her hair. She giggled and turned around, planting a kiss on Jin’s cheek.

“It is,” she wagged a finger at him. “And you’re not allowed to touch it, mister!”

Jin stumbled back and clutched at his heart in mock betrayal. “But how can I live without tasting the sweet, sweet goodness that will be this pie?” He shuffled closer with an exaggerated grin on his face, bringing a finger over to the filling she had prepared earlier. “Just one little taste…”

She slapped his finger away with a towel and laughed. “Oh, stop it, you big goof!” Jin laughed with her and let his smile become something fonder.

“There’s that smile,” he said softly, bringing his hand up to cup her cheek, “it’s been missing all day. Bad dreams again?” She nuzzled into his calloused hand and took him in. His brown hair that spiked every which way that their son had unfortunately inherited, the laugh lines around his mouth and clear blue eyes, the stubble that never left his chin, the love that was always in his gaze. Her wonderful, understanding husband.

“Yeah. you know how it gets sometimes.” He leaned in close and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. His stubble tickled.

“I do. Take it easy today, alright?”

“Mm.” She nodded her assent, and he planted another kiss on her cheek before making a dive for the pie filling.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

“Alright, I’m heading out. Old man Tanaka’s fence got blown in by the last storm and I need to go fix it,” Jin said, once their battle for the pie filling had ended in his defeat. Kyouka tried not to feel smug, but it was nice to see that she still had it after all these years.

“Let him know I’ll have his order ready by Wednesday, okay?”

Jin raised an arm to signal he understood from where he was getting ready to leave by the door. “Don’t work too hard! I love you!” he called, before running out the door.

“I love you too!” she called after him. She looked at the mess that was her kitchen and chuckled, then began the cleanup process. She didn’t deserve Jin either. Always ready to support her, to hold her close after memories left her shaking at night. She was so lucky he had been the first person she met when she found herself on the islands.

A soft pop sounded in the room. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to stop all the nightmares last night, Linn.”

“It’s not your fault, Chirithy. And really, you know I haven’t been Linn in 13 years.” She turned to look at the little Dream Eater sulking on her kitchen counter. A reminder of her old life, one of the very few she still had. Chirithy shuffled in place, sheepish.

“You know it’s habit.”

“Which is the only reason I don’t try harder to make you stop. Besides, the reminder is nice. Sometimes.” She shook her head and got back to work. That pie wasn’t going to finish making itself after all.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Kyouka had not always been Kyouka. Once upon a time she had been Linn, proud Keyblade Wielder in what was now known as the Age of Fairytales, if it was known at all. One of many, she fought against the Darkness alongside others. Until Darkness crept upon them and it became a fight of union against union, friend against friend, in a devastating war for Lux, the Light. She lost many people to that war.

It was only thanks to her friends in the group known as the Dandelions that she survived at all. Made to forget the horrors she witnessed, she lived her life safe in the virtual worlds, until once more their peace was threatened.

Worldline Jumping was a dangerous, finicky business, and she must have been born under a lucky star to have survived it completely intact. She didn’t know if the friends she had accompanied had been so lucky.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Pie done and cooling on the windowsill, Kyouka sat on her porch watching her son whoop in glee at his freedom and reflected on her life. Not a natural state for her, she wasn’t big on deep introspection, but sometimes the mood struck her to look back. The last 13 years of her life had been peaceful, all things considered. When she had first landed here, a bruised and scared 13-year-old, she had almost nothing, her friends had been nowhere to be found, and really, she hadn’t made the best of first impressions, swinging her keyblade around all willy-nilly. Stars bless Jin and his big heart and lack of self-preservation.

She adjusted, got a new name for a new life when she confessed to Jin that she didn’t want to be called Linn anymore (“Well, I’ll just have to come up with a new name for you! You’ll love it, I promise!”), and fell in love with the boy who saved her from herself. Jin had never once doubted her story, not like most of the rest of the islanders, and she would always be _so, so grateful_ for that. She didn’t have to hide where her nightmares came from, the reasons why she always stayed fitter than most, why she practiced her forms so religiously, he took it all in stride. She had a good, simple life working on her garden and helping to stock the bakery in town. Just living with her husband and son. So why did she have the feeling that it was about to get really complicated?

“Mommy, Mommy! Look!” Kyouka shook herself out of her musings when she heard her son call out and come running toward her. He practically threw himself into her lap so he could shove his little hand in her face.

“Sora, I can’t see anything with your hand that close,” she laughed out. Sora quivered in excitement and brought his hand out to a more reasonable distance, opening it up to reveal a small, round stone swirled with purples and greens and blues. She raised an eyebrow. Where exactly had Sora found such an unusual stone?

“I found this while I was running down the beach and I thought it looked like the charm on your sword, so I thought you would like it! Do you like it?” The words poured out of Sora’s mouth before he took a breath and waited for her answer. She laughed in delight.

“Of course, I like it! It’s such a pretty stone, thank you Sora.” She took the stone from his outstretched hand and placed it in her apron pocket. “I’ll turn it into a necklace and always wear it, how about that?”

Sora’s eyes practically sparkled in delight at the very thought. “YEAH! You’ll look so pretty Mommy!” he squirmed out of her lap and made to go running off again before, he turned back around and brought out the Puppy EyesTM. Oh, dear. “Mommy? Me an’ Riku wanna go to the play island and practice swords tomorrow?” His hands moved to clasp under his chin to accentuate the cuteness. “Can we can we can we?”

Kyouka sighs in defeat. “Since you _have_ been _such_ a good boy, I guess I can let you go with Riku to the island, BUT—” she cut Sora off before he could start cheering— “only if Papa or I come with you. No playing by yourself and waiting for us to come pick you up yet.”

Sora was undeterred. “Can you come? You can help us with swords! And tell us more stories!” So that was it, the little sneak. She laughed.

“Alright, I can come with you.” She wagged a finger in mock seriousness. “But don’t think you can slack off mister!” Sora cheered and wrapped his arms around her neck in a tight hug, plating a big sloppy kiss on her cheek before running off with a last “I love you!”.

Kyouka laughed and took out the stone, holding it up against the light. “Only Sora. I guess I should go inside and scrounge up some string.”

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

“And Riku is the winner!” Kyouka cheered as she called the race, Sora coming in seconds behind with a huge pout on his face.

“Aww, no fair! I’ll beat you next time!” Sora playfully shoved Riku’s shoulder, and the older boy retaliated grabbing him in a headlock.

“Sure Sora, you keep telling yourself that.”

“HEY!”

The boys started squabbling and Kyouka laughed, loud and free. “Okay boys, that’s enough of that. It’s getting late and Jin will be here soon. Why don’t we go over to the Paopu tree and wait for him?”

In unison the boys shouted “Okay!” and raced off toward the tree. Kyouka laughed some more and followed them at a calmer pace. She came out onto the other side of the beach to find that the two rascals had somehow already made it to the tree and were watching for Jin’s boat.

“Ahoy! We’re over here!” Scratch that, Jin was already here. Sora waved his hand at him and dared Riku to yet another race before bolting off to the boat. Riku followed sedately, apparently done with racing for today. Kyouka made to follow them both when she noticed the young man standing in the surf.

She had never seen him before. Tall, brown hair, late teens or early twenties, and with a particular spark to his presence that practically announced to all who knew how to look that he was a Keyblade Wielder. There were almost no keyblade wielders anymore. She narrowed her eyes. And he had so much un-tempered Darkness in him she wondered what the hell whoever was teaching him was thinking, not teaching their student how to temper and resist the darkness that existed inside them all.

And now Riku was talking to him. Oh _hell_ no.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

“Hey. Are you from the outside worlds?” The boy with silver hair and Light in his heart asked, and Terra felt his heart almost stop. This wasn’t what he expected when he was led to this island. How did this kid know about other worlds?

“Huh? Why would you say that?” The kid gave him a particularly unimpressed look and Terra felt his face flush just a tiny bit.

“No one lives on this island, and I know you aren’t from the main one. I would have met you.” Terra blinked. Huh.

“Smart kid. So? What’re _you_ doing here?”

The boy walked forward and indicated to the side where the other young boy was talking with an older man that looked almost identical to him.

“My friend’s dad took us and his mom out on the boat. This is where we like to play, but they won’t let us row out by ourselves, not till we get older. We’re usually allowed to stay here alone though. Sora was grounded until yesterday, so his mom came with us.”

Terra chuckled a bit at that. “Yeah, being grounded kind of sucks. Must be hard, huh? Stuck in one place?” He knew he would have gone mad if he hadn’t been allowed to leave the Land of Departure. A flash of guilt shot through him at the thought. Ven had been trapped in the Land ever since he joined them. He hadn’t been allowed to leave, and for no reason he could see.

The boy joined him on the surf. “Just a little. I heard there was a kid once who left for good.” As he spoke, the image of a different boy superimposed itself, before shifting to what only had to be the boy much older than he was now and Terra held in a gasp. Such a strong Light. And yet…

“So, how’d you get here anyway? I thought it was really hard to travel to the outside worlds now?”

Strange. Why would this kid know about that, more than the question of why he knew about other worlds at all? “Is there some reason you’re interested in the outside worlds?”

“Yeah. I want to be strong one day. Like that kid who left. He went to the outside worlds. I bet he’s strong now. Or like Sora’s mom. She’s _really_ strong. I want to be as strong as her one day.”

“Oh? And why do you want such strength?” Terra moved closer and crouched down so that he would be eye level with the boy (he really should ask for the kid’s name), curious for the answer.

Sea green met deep blue and the boy smiled. “To protect the things that matter. Like my friends.” He turned back toward the horizon. “I know it’ll be tough, and I won’t always be able to. Auntie wasn’t able to protect _her_ friends before she came here, but she tried, and I think that counts. I want the strength to try.”

Terra couldn’t help but smile softly in awe (and push away his confusion about this ‘Auntie’. Was she from another world and then settled here?). This boy was so young and already had learned such a valuable lesson. A lesson that Terra… was still struggling with. Huh. Maybe he should take some notes. And maybe he should give this kid a keyblade of his own. He was definitely worthy of it. “That’s very admirable of you.”

“Thank you!” The boy’s smile turned blinding. “Auntie said that when we think we’re ready, she’ll help us, me and my friend, find that strength. I know I’m not ready, not yet, but one day I will be.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah! She’s… uh oh.”

There was the distinctive _shink_ of a weapon being summoned behind him and he whirled around in shock, only to jerk his head back and fall on his ass as the sharp points of a black and green Keyblade he’d only seen in dusty old texts in the Land of Departure’s library thrust themselves in front of his face. A short woman with waist-length orange hair and a scar on her cheek that looked a bit like Master Eraqus’s was glaring at him with hard chips of frigid amethyst. He gulped. The woman addressed the boy without once taking her eyes off of Terra.

“Riku, go wait with Jin and Sora. Now.” Her voice was low and commanding and Terra shivered.

“Yes, Auntie.” He heard the shifting of sand as the boy (Riku?) ran off. She stepped closer and brought the point of her blade under his chin.

“Now. Who are you, _Keyblade Wielder_ , and why _exactly_ are you here?”

**Author's Note:**

> Oooooohh Terra's in troubleeeee.
> 
> So, I thought I didn't have a plan for MD. I _really_ don't have plan for this AU. I just want to see where it takes me. I don't think it will expand beyond the scope of BBS's timeline, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of things to explore in it XD.
> 
> Jin (仁 ): compassion and humanity, among other things  
> Kyouka (強化): strengthening or reinforcement
> 
> If you want, make sure to leave a comment, I respond as soon as I can. Just please be kind, both to me and to each other.
> 
> links to my Tumblr and discord are on my profile if you want to say hi and ask questions!


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